Jason Lefkowitz: "If you asked the average citizen to tell you where important things were happening in American politics today, odds are that not many would point to Guilford County, North Carolina."

Morning coffee notes

It's been a while since we had a little pseudo-intimate conversation, also known as Morning Coffee Notes. I write these in the morning, while drinking coffee, of course. At the beginning of a MCN you're getting the mind of a well-rested Dave, but one whose alertness hasn't yet been enhanced. But by the end, you're hearing from a new improved Dave, you might think of him as "Dave Plus" -- and the extra not so secret ingredient is -- you guessed it -- coffee!

First note. Thank heaven for Joel Spolsky. A pundit almost everyone can disagree with. Let's pop the stack on that one. First everyone likes Joel, but he says outrageous things that set my head spinning and make me want to rebut him and of course point to him, which is probably the secret to Joel's high flow.

Yesterday I read on Brent Simmons' personal site that Joel had dissed the Mac again, saying you had to be a hobbyist to develop for it, because you certainly can't make a living selling software for it. Now Windows, there's a platform a developer can profit on, boasts Joel. He quotes Robb Beal saying that venture capitalists run the other way when they hear "Mac" -- but that's too easy to dispense with, they do the same thing when you say "software" or "Windows" (they believe in the power of antitrust), or "Internet" (how times change), and aside from that, these days, who the hell cares what VCs think anyway? They're about as influential as an ex-CEO of General Magic, or a Lisa product manager from the early 80s.

Further, as I said on Brent's site, today's Mac market is ten times the size of the PC market in 1982, the one that made Mitch Kapor a mega-gazillionaire with his hit spreadsheet, Lotus 1-2-3. The Mac market may actually be 100 times the size of that market. Further, it's a lot easier to reach Mac users through free marketing channels, the kinds of channels a sole practitioner like Brent can afford.